This just in from our friends at SumOfUs: Stephen Harper continues his stealthy attempts to hobble the CBC. His latest ploy comes embedded in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If passed, the TPP could essentially mandate the privatization of the CBC, our national broadcaster. CBC has suffered ongoing cuts at the hands of the Harper regime, seriously threatening independent ad-free journalism in our country. But there's more.From the SumOfUs website: Documents were just leaked from the top-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations – and the news is bad for the CBC.If the TPP passes, Crown corporations like the CBC could be required to operate entirely for profit. And worse – this move could force the CBC to be privatized.The mission of the CBC is to tell the bilingual and multicultural story of Canada – not just to exist for corporate profit.Canadian politicians are extremely vulnerable to public pressure right now as they head into one of the longest election campaigns in Canadian history – let’s make sure our CBC is protected and not sold off for profit.Sign the petition to Prime Minister Harper and the Party Leaders: Scrap the TPP and save the CBC!The leaked document from Wikileaks shows that CBC, Canada Post and other Crown corporations could be forced into operating solely for profit if the TPP deal is passed.Harper was gunning to pass the secretive and extreme TPP deal before the election was announced so he wouldn’t have to answer to voters on the campaign trail. But last week’s talks in Hawaii stalled out and public opposition is growing by the day.Harper has been busy making cuts to the CBC and other crown corporations for years, and honestly, we’ve had enough. These institutions represent an essential part of the fabric of this country.We have no idea if this provision will make it into the deal’s final text – but we can’t afford to wait and find out if Harper tries to unilaterally rubber stamp the TPP deal.Sign the petition to Harper and Party Leaders: Save the CBC, Canada Post and our Crown corporations!Harper called the election a whole month early because he thinks money is all it takes to hold on to power. Conservative MPs spent the days before the writ dropped on a corporate spending spree – literally spending $4 billion to help secure votes.Right now, we desperately need a publicly funded national broadcaster free from corporate influence. We need an alternative to Americanized corporate channels, one that gives Canadian writers, actors, producers and broadcasters have a place to grow and develop a national consciousness. The CBC used to excel at this and even now, crippled by successive funding cuts, it punches far above its weight.At SumOfUs, we have been fighting for the CBC for years. And with the coming election, now is our chance to say loud and clear that we don't want a Canada without a fully funded public broadcaster. That means no corporate influence and no selling it off to benefit private interests. It’s not just the CBC that’s at risk with the TPP. Leaked documents reveal the TPP would hurt access to generic medicine, and open up our governments to lawsuits from corporations when our laws infringe on their profits. It’ll create a race-to-the-bottom for workers in every country. Put short, it’s a trade deal for corporations, by corporations, and we need to stop it.

If you care about the CBC, please consider copying this email and distributing it in your circles:

Friends,

Leaked documents show the CBC could be forced to operate solely for profit if the terrible Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) passes.

It's election time, and the party leaders are vulnerable to public pressure right now as they head into one of the longest campaigns in Canadian history – let's make sure our CBC is protected and not sold off for profit.

Will you join me and demand that Harper and other party leaders commit to scrap the TPP and save the CBC?